The present invention generally relates to broadband communications and more specifically to a system for receiving and transmitting optical signals.
With the advent of the internetwork of networks generally referred to as the Internet, more and more users desire broadband access from their homes or offices. With the increasing popularity of the Internet, numerous applications have been developed and an amazing amount of content has been produced for the Internet. As the complexity of the content and applications accessed on the Internet increases, users increasingly desire high speed access to the Internet, such as broadband access. While some solutions, such as Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) and cable modems, have enabled users to experience broadband service, providing the services to multiple users becomes costly and burdensome.
One way of providing broadband service is with multiple point to point laser links, which use one laser source and one receiver for each user receiving the service. Thus, point to point broadband service requires a separate transmitter for each receiver. Accordingly, the use of point to point links for every person desiring broadband service is not feasible with the number of users desiring the service.
A Passive Optical Network (PON) may be used to provide broadband service. A PON includes a passive device that splits a signal between multiple devices. However, the device is passive and the original power of the signal is split between the multiple devices. Thus, if the signal is split between two devices, the two signals would have half the power of the original signal. The split signals are then weaker in intensity and cannot travel as far or as reliably as the original signal. A PON also transmits information for all of the multiple devices to one device. The device then decodes the part of the information that is for the device. Security then becomes a concern because devices receive information that is for other devices.